Hi-Standard Double 9 vs. Beretta Single 10 Revisited

In my previous post “Fifty Years of Plinkin’ I mentioned that I had recently purchased a .22 caliber Beretta Single 10 revolver in memory of the Hi-Standard Double 9 revolver I had in my youth. My friend and business partner, Jerry Colliver, knowing I would love to have a Double 9 again, found one for me. And boy was it a find. The gun is in practically new condition and still in its original box with a price sticker on it from 1968 from Bud and Jim’s Sporting Goods. The price was $64.98.

I paid a little more than that for this excellent Double 9, but have no regrets. It came with three sets of grips: staghorn, pearl and black. Although my previous Double 9 had the staghorn grips on it, I like the black ones better, so put them on this gun. One day last week during my lunch hour I took the two guns shooting — the Double 9 and the Single 10.

I had some .22 Long Rifle cartridges and some sub-sonic .22 shorts. I shot a box of the Long Rifles in each gun and about 30 of the .22 shorts in each gun. Accuracy was about the same for either gun. Shooting the shorts was a hoot because the sort of make a “psst” sound rather than a bang.

The Double 9 has cool feature that I didn’t remember from my previous gun. When shooting it in the double-action mode, you can just pull the trigger all the way back, but if you’re squeezing it like we’ve all been taught to do, you’ll feel a definite stopping point just as the hammer reaches it’s full-back position. You can actually pause there and realign your sights before continuing the trigger pull through until the gun fires. With a little practice, you can stop at this point every time. It’s sort of like having the inherent accuracy of a cocked single-action built into a double-action gun.

There is no question the Beretta is built better. The Double 9 has an aluminum frame while the Beretta is all steel. But with reasonable care, I believe this Double 9 will provide me a lot of plinkin’ fun during the rest of my life and will still be around for the grandkids to enjoy. Thank you, Jerry!